Oh, Messy Life: Chilladelphia and The Holy Mountain

Friday. Long day. So long. My band recorded in our friend’s basement literally six hours for like four tracks. We were grumpy and exhausted by the end of the day, but we decided to go to a show at Chilladelphia, which is home to some of the nicest people in the city, including local one man awesomeness, Alaskas. We got there late, and missed great bands, Masters and Johnson, Alaskas and What What Now, catching only the end of Bow + Arrow’s stellar set. Everyone there was drinking, which disappointed me because it was clearly stated that this was supposed to be a no drinking show, and people were disrespecting the house while no one did anything about it, except the two cops who showed up at the end, wearing clear sunglasses and bad, patronizing attitudes. The show was originally for Philly band Algernon Cadwallader, but one of them had a skateboard accident and they cancelled the tour. Immense bummer ’cause that band is one of the best that exist today. Real Kinsella-kickers, man. The show still happened, with Adrian Orange as Thanksgiving to play. I was stoked when I heard this, as I love Thanksgiving as well as Adrian Orange and Her Band. He played an electro style hip-hop off an iPod. Disappointing, no fun. It was weird to see an incredibly talented musician, well loved by the Northwest, play such mediocrity. I want my old Adrian Orange back. Super fun show, though.

I was stoked on the next night, Saturday. Good day, right? San Francisco faves (and former Seattlites/members of Dalmatians) Casy and Brian were playing at The Holy Mountain with the 100% awesomeness that is Little Party and the Bad Business. Some other bands were playing. I didn’t pay a lot of attention before I went. The show was scheduled to start at 9, but started at 10, because openers Katharine Hepburn’s Voice had apparently stalled, supposedly because they didn’t want to play first. They covered “Livin’ Thing” by Electric Light Orchestra, which ruled. Pretty mellow pop, with super good singing. They played sitting down, which was chill. Religious Girls, who were touring with Casy and Brian, were supposed to play next. Brian had introduced me to Guy from that band before, so I stood in anticipation, marveling at the complexity of their setup. Keyboards, p.a. stuff, pedal, and everybody but one had some drums and cymbals. As they began their set, my whole perception of noise and music was completely blown out of the water. Religious Girls took the rhythmic pounding of HEALTH and the tropical loveliness of High Places and made it their own, a completely new sound that was as beautiful as it was harsh and brutal. At one point, each member moved their individual floor toms to the middle of the crowd and poured paint on the drum heads. When the collective pounding began, paint flew all over on my white shoes, on my friends’ faces and everyone was shocked. I opened my eyes to see people holding their arms and hands out as if they were having a religious experience, being splattered in orange paint and hearing amazing music. The manipulated vocals through the microphones and the call and response keyboard and drum melodies amazed me and captivated me in the best way. They were absolutely fucking terrific. Of course, I knew that Little Party and the Bad Business, often shortened to LP&BB, were gonna bring the fun. Robert Wolfe, of Small Breed and ‘live-long’ from the 425 to L.A. and back played drums. As usual, LP&BB’s shit broke in like one song, was fixed, and they played an amazing set with their semi-classic set up of dual facing keyboards and no guitar. My favorite. After blasting through anthems like “DFM” and “Gloria,” they concluded their set and announced that their CD had finally arrived, six months too late. Good stuff. Casy and Brian played next. They brought the ruckus, as was to be expected. Those two are really nice guys, as well as extremely muscular. Like really muscular. Their music was simplicity: drums (kick, floor tom and snare) and keyboard (one small sized casio each). It was a rager dance party, with Brian M. going apeshit and crowdsurfing, along with myself and members of Religious Girls. I left that show with a feeling of warmth and ecstasy. I promptly returned home and listened to Raccoo-ooo-oon and prepped myself for Wet Hair’s upcoming show at the Josephine, the next Friday.

Ben Funkhouser is a former KEXP programming intern turned weekly columnist. Being underage, his column, Oh, Messy Life, will focus strictly on the all-ages music in Seattle. He also is the booking assistant at the Vera Project and writes for Public Access Media.

Oooh my flyer is getting mad internet hype. The address for Chilladelphia (my house) is always located on the flyer for the show. We don’t have another show booked for a while though. As for the drinking Alaskas and I decided it would be cool, before all the guests showed up, which is why there was no anti-drink enforcement. Everyone ended up being relatively respectful. And the cops were total sweet hearts. It was a great show.